How a simple game of bingo is making a huge difference

A kind-hearted couple who have raised more than £60,000 for charity thanked bingo players who contributed to their latest donation.
Cheque presentations to charities at Buckingham Community Centre. Cash raised by Sue and Tiddler Carter's Bingo Evenings. From the left, Sue Carter, Nick Mellors, British Heart Foundation, Barbara Davidson, Age Concern Buckingham and District, James McDonald, Clic Sargent, Rex Stevens, Prostate Cancer UK and Tiddler Carter. PNL-161003-214545009Cheque presentations to charities at Buckingham Community Centre. Cash raised by Sue and Tiddler Carter's Bingo Evenings. From the left, Sue Carter, Nick Mellors, British Heart Foundation, Barbara Davidson, Age Concern Buckingham and District, James McDonald, Clic Sargent, Rex Stevens, Prostate Cancer UK and Tiddler Carter. PNL-161003-214545009
Cheque presentations to charities at Buckingham Community Centre. Cash raised by Sue and Tiddler Carter's Bingo Evenings. From the left, Sue Carter, Nick Mellors, British Heart Foundation, Barbara Davidson, Age Concern Buckingham and District, James McDonald, Clic Sargent, Rex Stevens, Prostate Cancer UK and Tiddler Carter. PNL-161003-214545009

Sue and retired Buckingham Buildbase lorry driver Tiddler Carter started up bingo nights at the Buckingham community centre five years ago when they moved to the town.

Before that the couple raised around £35,000 through years of decorating their Steeple Claydon home with a festoon of Christmas lights and even a Santa 
grotto.

They were inspired to set out on their fundraising journey following Sue’s 1994 battle with ovarian cancer.

And this week they presented £7,000 to charities Clic Sargent, Thames Valley Air Ambulance, Prostate Cancer UK, Breast Cancer Care , Macmillan nurses and the British Heart Foundation.

The couple say that the bingo nights have been an amazing way to make friends in a new town, and that they have been blown away by the generosity that everyone who attends has shown the charities.

Sue, who ran a bakery and Post Office in Steeple Claydon, and worked at the University of Buckingham before her retirement, said: “We started it just raising money for cancer charities because of what had happened to me, that is what spurred it on.

“My son John and Tiddler used to do the lights and it just got bigger and bigger.

“Then when we moved to Buckingham we started doing the bingo, and I think so far that has raised about £30,000.

“Through the bingo we have made lots of friends and they have all been so generous.

“We do a raffle every week and a donation once a month, so this is their money and we would like to say a very big thank you to them all, we really appreciate it.”

And the pair have not stopped yet, the bingo nights will carry on in ernest on Thursdays and Sundays, and a special Wiggy Night event is being arranged for 
May.

Sue, who has four grown-up children, said: “Clic Sargent got in touch, and they are asking people to host parties where everyone wears a wig.

“All of the money raised goes to buy wigs for children who are suffering with cancer. “